Thursday, March 10, 2011

Divine Vegan Lasagna

I admit that when I decided to give up dairy I figured that meant a fond farewell to lasagna. I'm no Garfield the cat, but I had just discovered a delicious vegetarian lasagna recipe and I was sad to think I'd never get to use it again. As I began exploring raw and vegan recipes, however, I realized that a vegan lasagna was not only possible, but that it had the potential to be seriously yummy. I combined three online recipes (two of which you can find here and here) to come up with this (click for full view or to print):

You'll notice that the above recipe refers to the below recipe (which is the same amazing cheese sauce I put on my macaroni and cheese):

Now, this is not one of those 30 minute recipes, so be forewarned. I recommend making the pignoli ricotta and cutting up the vegetables in advance, and doubling the recipe so you can have one to bake and one to freeze for another night.

Here are the ingredients for the pignoli ricotta just before blending.

I don't think the velvety vegan cheese would do so well if prepared in advance, so get your potatoes and carrots simmering before you start the noodles.

I used a combination of organic and whole grain lasagna noodles.

I find that shredding the carrots makes for a nicer texture in the lasagna.

The same goes for the broccoli--use little or none of the stalks and chop the florets finely.

The first layer: ricotta/veggie mix.

Drizzle the velvety vegan cheese over the pasta sauce.

For the final layer, I spread the cheese sauce after drizzling and sprinkled some basil and oregano on top.

Fresh out of the oven!

Matt made a fruit salad to compliment the lasagna: apple, nectarine, mango, strawberries, banana, and grapes.

I wish you could SMELL it, because it smells divine. Matt and I loved it, and I made good use of the leftovers for work the following week. But what did the kids think, you might wonder?

I just made this again the other day and it was so good! This time I had only cashews on hand, so I tried that and I honestly couldn't tell much difference. I also used Daiya mozzarella shreds instead of the cheese sauce (to save time) and that turned out very nice, as well. The last time I made it I added a couple of Field Roast vegan Italian sausages (cut into chunks) to the marinara sauce, and it was a hit. Any one else try any substitutions that worked?